Chapter Communications Blog

Editorial July 2018 Newsletter

The 2018 Football World Cup is here once more. It has been 4 years since the last one, and this year all eyes are set on Russia.

So far the event has run perfectly. I have friends who have attended and all come back saying wonderful things about it. They all agree that it is extremely well organized. An event of these dimensions measures the capacity of a country's ability to create from nothing a show that will be viewed in every single corner of the world during one month. I think we can call this a project portfolio, right?

Every single project that is related to this year's Football World Cup is geared towards this single event. I am sure there have been hundreds of projects, if not thousands, which in most cases have been successfully accomplished - becasue like I said, it is extremely well organized and is running very smoothly.

Then there are other projects that we should not forget about. These are the teams' projects. It may seem that all teams would have the same objective, which is to win the competition, but this is not realistic. Not all have the same capabilities, although all have the same chance.

A project has to have objectives that are realistic, therefore the team should thoroughly think through what to aim for.

As I write this, I am aware that many of the projects have already ended. In some cases these have been successfull, but in many others not so. Some teams have had to stop before they wanted to, but...

I wish you all a good time watching this single event come to an end, and may the best and luckiest team win...

Also enjoy the summer vacations!

Regards,

Carlos

Event Report - How Project Managers Can Help Organizations Become More Agile - 14 June, Basel

Author: Brandon Satre, PMP

On Thursday, 14 June, our chapter hosted an event on how project managers can help organizations become more agile. Timm Urschinger, CEO and co-founder of LIVEsciences AG presented on the topic at the Schützenhaus in Basel, which followed up with a very enjoyable networking apéro outside.

One thing that surprised me a bit, but perhaps not surprising to others, is that there is actually nothing new in such an approach to project management. This was Timm’s mantra throughout the presentation, so I thought it must be important enough to say here as well – Agile, it’s nothing new!

Some of the top challenges to adopting an agile method according to the 12th Annual State of Agile are organizational culture, general organizational resistance and inadequate management support. Hence, we have people like Timm driving the PM community to embrace agile concepts into their project management approach.

We saw first hand how well agility fits in an environment filled with uncertainty. For example, we had a couple of live poll questions via our smartphones, and one in which we were asked what we thought the biggest challenge would be to leading an organization in agile methods? After the answers started coming in, it was clear that most people just had no idea where to start. Then Timm announced that he would be adapting part of what he would talk about based on the top result. But suddenly the top result became “my leadership will never endorse agile.” And when the poll had ended (or so we thought), the top result switched yet again! Now either Timm planted people to purposely ensure a certain result would be at the top so that he could only make it seem like he would be adapting to the poll, or we were witnessing a truly agile phenomenon and an equally agile Timm.

In the end, we learned that the best way to get started with leading agile in an organization is to just start where you are. There is no magic formula. It helps to do some research on success stories, of course, such as Spotify’s agile “tribe” framework. Timm recommends having a north star to start with. Define the project purpose with your team and have a clear line of sight on your north star. Check out Patagonia’s success story in switching to sustainable cotton back in the 90’s. Consider assigning project roles with clearly defined responsibilities rather than limiting project responsibilities based on job title. Or why not draft up a project constitution so everyone is clear on expectations of each other? This can be tailored between specific individuals too. Finally…just try different approaches out (if you are in a position to do so). And don’t be afraid to fail.

“Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.” - Robert T. Kiyosaki

Message from the Board - July 2018

Author: Manju Bohra

Dear Colleagues and Members,

Hope you are doing well and looking forward to a good summer. I'm very much doing so...with my optimistic rosy lenses on and leaving behind torrential rainy weeks of June ….. I was almost thinking that somebody would need to call Noah back then!

With that hopefully behind us, allow me to give you an update on sponsoring. As you know, sponsorship is critical in lightening the cost pressure and allowing the chapter to maintain its high-standard events. Throughout the last quarter we invested some time with our sponsors to get their feedback on the value from sponsoring and how we could collaborate better in the future. It gives me immense happiness to tell you that our sponsors are very satisfied to build such a powerful and mutually beneficial relationship with us. I'd also like to take the opportunity to recognize the excellent work our Events team is doing; they have a big hand in keeping our sponsors happy too.

During the last two board meetings we scheduled workshops with our Communications team to understand our members better, i.e. which industries they come from, geographic locations and their interests. In this way we hope to provide customized communication platform and services to our sponsors and members.

We are working hard to understand our stakeholders' needs at different levels, and how we could define specific KPIs and provide a way to meaningfully measure returned value.

In closing, I'd like to thank our sponsors' support and close collaboration that enable us to bring quality events to you. PWC merits special mention as they are our Platinum sponsor and continuing their support for the second consecutive year. PMI is very thankful to our Gold Plus and Gold sponsors who have been committed to supporting the chapter for the past many years.

I wish you a wonderful summer and a fun filled holiday period.

Warm regards,

Manju Bohra

VP Sponsoring

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Editorial June 2018 Newsletter

Author: Carlos Martinez Arteaga, PMP

Dear Members and Newsletter subscribers,

I am lucky to have 3 little kids in my life, all under 6, all irradiate happiness, all full of life, all empty and fill my batteries at the same time...

For those who have kids, it is well known that the day they arrive, a part of us suddenly goes away. Also suddenly we do not have just one shadow, but two!

My kids have molded they way I now am, they have made me a caring person, to put myself in other people's shoes, they have even been able to make me realise that if it takes 5 minutes longer to drive to our destination, it is fine, as long as we get there... and that never again been on time is also fine.

I have become more patient, I might be able to do something quick, but others might be doing that for the first time, like children, and this I have realised though them.

I also become aware of that I have to stand more for what I say, and therefore I have to think of what I tell my kids. Whatever I might say will be considered as totally true, "Dad can't be wrong, he is Dad!!". I have always stood for what I have said, but now more than ever, I have to leave up to it, as if not I will be immediately reminded of what I said...

A kid will show you that it is ok to be friends the second after you fight, that a frienship is stronger than any dispute..., and that no matter how angry you might be, with a few words that anger will vanish away..

Finally, children will make you realise that you too have a dad and a mom, and if they are still around, you will realise what they have gone through to get you where you are today, and how proud they surely feel about you... just like you are of every thing your kids achieve!!

I leave it with my favourite quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry : "The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart".

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